Lees: GOP master plan  even More blatant cheating

FILE - In this Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012 file photo, Sarah Palin, the GOP candidate for vice-president in 2008, and former Alaska governor, delivers the keynote address to activists from America's political right at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington. Palin is out as a Fox News Channel contributor. The network said Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, that it is parting ways with the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate and former Alaska governor. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

What can you do when your ideas have almost no appeal to younger people, Latinos/Hispanics, African-Americans, and Asian-Americans? Well, you could try to modernize your ideas, and learn something about Keynesianism, evolution, global warming, other cultures, etc. Well, you know the big money folks behind the GOP aren’t going to permit anything like that, because you would have to spend so much energy that you would have no time left in order to try to con the public into wrecking Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The Koch brothers won’t permit such a thing.

Now there is another path that you can choose here in the twenty-first century, and that seems to be the one the GOP leadership has chosen. And that is to cheat like crazy. Now see in democracy, the people’s voice rules, which is why here in Pennsylvania we have a state legislature controlled by the Democrats, because we have more registered Democrats in Pennsylvania. To quote Rick Perry – “Oops.” See, due to GOP gerrymandering ( a polite way of saying they have rigged the electoral districts in favor of Republicans), the Legislature in Pennsylvania is controlled by our minority party.

Of course, on the federal level, this couldn’t happen, could it? The GOP couldn’t have rigged things so brutally that, in spite of the fact that more Pennsylvanians voted Democratic in the elections, we have a GOP controlled delegation in the House of Representatives, could they? Well, you already know the answer to that. Our dear democracy loving friends in the GOP (shine those flag lapel pins, folks) have rigged that also. So the minority party also controls our House delegation in Washington, DC.

Then, we have good old voter ID, which will rear its ugly head again soon. As State House Majority (would be Minority in a real democracy) Leader Republican Tom Turzai let slip, that whole voter ID scam was about electing Mitt Romney. The GOP was never going to convince a majority of Pennsylvanians to vote for Mr. Hero-of-the One-Percent, so a simple solution appeared. Make sure a lot of minorities can’t vote by going after the non-existent problem of in-person voter fraud. All of this nonsense is part of the GOP strategy for the future, nationwide. Now, since Turzai and his ilk had voter ID blow up in their face, they need another scam. And wonder of wonders, what should appear but a nationwide GOP interest in having Presidential electoral college votes apportioned by Congressional districts. Yep, the same Congressional districts that have been gerrymandered nationwide (thank you, Tom Delay – let us know how things go in jail) so that the GOP controls the House of Representatives nationwide in spite of the fact that more people voted Democratic in the 2012 Congressional election. Anybody see a pattern here?

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As Governor Tom sells off our lottery and state stores, the GOP plans to sabotage our democracy nationwide. Talk about entitlement programs. These people feel they are entitled to run our country their way in spite of the fact that the majority of people don’t buy their program. Our GOP led state legislature may try to switch the way we cast electoral votes, so that the GOP can ensure that the people who get fewer votes will win elections. This is not what our brave troops at Gettysburg, Chateau-Thierry, and Okinawa died for.

As we try to sort out all of this over the next few years, we will have the benefit, so to speak, of Condi (“Bin Laden determined to strike in the US”) Rice’s semi-expert analysis on CBS. Now, the fact that Condi was wrong about Iraq and Bin Laden doesn’t deter CBS from hiring her. Call me crazy, but why don’t they hire someone who was right about Iraq?

Another semi-brilliant commentator is leaving TV – Sarah Palin has not been renewed at FOX News. What a loss – oh, the humanity. Mrs “You Can See Russia From Alaska” won’t be around to offer her analysis. How will we survive? Who will pay her a million a year now? Roger Ailes, head of FOX News, picked Sarah because “she was hot and helped ratings.” Gee, that was nice Roger. Next time why don’t you pick someone who has a clue what he/she is talking about?

As Italian-Palestinian writer Rula Jebreal said on Bill Maher’s “Real Time” a few weeks ago, “Americans are the best-entertained and the least-informed people.” Well, we better wake up and start getting better informed and making some noise that can be heard in Harrisburg and Washington, DC, if we want to stop the GOP from seizing our democracy.

Contact Tom Lees, a longtime area resident and educator, at tlees2@aol.com.